THE PUBLIC works department was always notorious for its legendary inefficiency. It was traditionally the employer of a special type of public parasite – the type that is less productive than the average employee of the state.
There are a lot of jokes about the way the public works department operates and on Friday I saw the epic inefficiency with my own eyes. Outside the building that houses the Cyprus Mail office on Lemessos avenue there was a group of men in the familiar, phosphorescent orange gilets talking rather loudly outside a big truck (pic), with a sticker on the door saying ‘Tmima Dimosion Ergon’.
A few yards from the truck where workmen in the orange gilets were loudly chatting, two of their colleague were placing a pole with the sign ‘Eforiako Symvoulio’ in a hole they had made in the pavement. They had poured freshly made cement into the hole (pic) to make the sign stay in place. They then rejoined their colleagues to confer about the project they successfully completed.
The astonishing thing was that six workers had been sent out to do this job in two different vehicles. When they departed two of the men went into a service diplokambino to return to base.
SIX WORKMEN were paid to make a small hole in the pavement and stick a pole in it; they also had to mix half a bucket of cement. And to this, the department sent out a diesel-guzzling, industrial truck and a diplokambino to carry the pole and bag of cement.
I can only guess that the team of six was made up of two drivers, a supervisor, a cement-maker and two labourers, who placed the pole into the ground. I tried to take a picture of the workmen with my phone, but I only got three of them in the frame (pic), because I was spotted by one them and he demanded to know what I was doing.
I fled, for fear there was also an enforcer hiding in the truck with the job of dealing with troublesome members of the public.
So, dear customer, when you are filling out your tax declaration this month, do not feel resentful about the money you will pay the inland revenue department, because your moolah is being used very prudently by the state.
AFTER the success of his suicide bomber act, which cleared the main obstacle to his Disy candidacy, Averof Neophytou has now decided to market himself as the man of the people, who will help low-earners cope with the rising cost of living.
He held a news conference on Friday to announce his brilliant plan to bring down fuel prices and thus “protect our people.” He urged the Prez, who was attending a European Council meeting, to call for the lifting of the EU’s energy sanctions against Russia.
It was a time for “bold decisions,” Averof said, adding that as the Yanks had eased sanctions on Russian diesel, the EU should do the same. For most of his career Averof was one of the most pragmatic politicians, but he must have decided that to have a chance of being elected, he should emigrate to cloud cuckoo land and embrace the loony populist ideology.
So, he publicly called on his fellow Paphite to propose to EU leaders to lift sanctions on Russian oil, although the probability of this happening is less than zero.
THE PRAGMATIC Averof of the past, quite rightly, would have laughed at any politician that made such an insane suggestion, but now we have to deal with Averof in Wonderland.
First, the idea that the Prez of a midget state like Kyproulla would be taken seriously by his fellow leaders if he made such a suggestion is a bit far-fetched, especially at a time when anti-Putin paranoia is at its peak in EU states.
Europeans have turned against President Trump for lifting sanctions on Russian diesel, which they see as betrayal of Ukraine, so there is no chance in hell they would heed Averof’s advice, conveyed by our Prez. In this regard Averof is repeating the Nik myth that Kyproulla is big player the wields great influence in the EU.
The biggest myth though, is the misleading idea that by lifting sanctions against Russian oil fuel prices will come tumbling down in no time and Averof’s masterplan would prove a mega-success. Next week he will ask our Prez to urge Trump to make peace with Iran so that fuel prices fall further and the protection of our people is secured forever.
OUR LOVE AFFAIR with Israel was taken to another level last week with six deputies launching the Kyproulla chapter of the Israel Allies Foundation (IAF), which is an international pro-Israel organization.
A few weeks earlier, the same deputies had launched a local chapter of the Transatlantic Friends of Israel. An IAF delegation, headed by Josh Reinstein was welcomed to the presidential palace by Prezniktwo, who has developed into an ultra-loyal associate of Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu.
The love affair, which is rather one-way, has blossomed in the last few years thanks to the rising tension between Israel and Turkey, whose once close relations have degenerated into an intense hostility over Gaza and range of other geopolitical issues.
Now Israel’s government feels comfortable referring to the Turkish occupation of Cyprus, something it had avoided doing for decades after the invasion.
THE IAF chapter was set up on the initiative of Diko deputy Chrysis Pantelides, who had come across the network on his parliamentary visits abroad. Two deputies, each from Disy and Elam joined the chapter.
There was no issue of double standards in supporting Israel, Pantelides said, because although Israeli forces “occupy certain territories” it was unfair to compare the Palestinian issue with the Cyprus problem, because there “had never been a Palestinian state.” This presumably made some military occupations better than others.
What is astonishing is how far Diko has travelled. Back in the ‘70s, ‘80s it was part of the anti-Israel axis with Akel and Edek, extolling the virtues of Yasser Arafat and slamming Israel at every opportunity.
Backed by the Soviet Union, the members of the anti-Israel axis would attack anyone who dared express even mild support for Israel back then, labeling them ‘Mossad agents.’ But now that Israel has turned against Turkey, we are all proud to be called ‘Mossad agents.’
AN EU ambassador, speaking to a customer of our establishment, said that many member-states were exasperated with the attitude of Kyproulla in Brussels.
Apparently, it has become a practice of our delegations to criticize the speaker of any country that takes a rational, more neutral approach to the Cyprus problem. Such people are immediately attacked for not showing solidarity for a fellow member-state.
The result, the ambassador said, is that nobody bothers to express an opinion when the Cyprob is raised in some way. It is just not worth the trouble.
KYPROULLA will join the Schengen area, which was supposed to have happened, according to our Prez, during Kyproulla’s presidency of the EU Council that ended in June, in 2027. Admittedly, it is difficult to believe anything the government says about Schengen.
Several months ago, it was saying that all technical requirements had been completed and we were now waiting for the political decision. Last weekend Deputy Migration Minister, Nicholas Ioannides said the government expected to complete six outstanding actions by early November, after which it would inform the European Commission that it is technically ready.
The only problem is that approval must be given by all 29 members states of the Schengen area, something that only our Prez treats as a certainty. The EU member-states that our delegations fall out with over the Cyprob might want to get their own back, by keeping poor old Kyproulla out of Schengen.